Just got my (unfinished) rig on the road for some testing and noticed it doesn't like the rutted pavement my county has to offer. Smooth roads,if I find some are much more to its liking. Question is, has anyone noticed a SIGNIFICANT improvement by increasing track width to counteract the side to side shifting caused by the wide, square shoudered car tires? I've done changes to suspension one by one and made some improvements but have concluded the nervous handling goes away on a smooth road. Seems the tires are hitting the sides of the ruts and getting forced back and forth. I could get an easy inch or two by changing wheel offset. Would that be enough?

Need more info
what is your track width ?
what type of front end ?
what size tires all the way around ?
what tire pressure are you running in each tire ?_________________Nostalgia' s nice but, nothing beats Performance.
Roger

Congratulations on getting to the test ride stage! Can you post a link to the pictures again, I can't seem to find the link.

When you said "but have concluded the nervous handling goes away on a smooth road." the first thing that comes to mind is I wonder if you have enough caster/trail. Do you know how much trail you have? I assume you would only change the sidecar wheel offset to increase the width. Changing the front wheel offset could have a dramatic effect on how it handles if the center of the contact patch is not reasonably lined up with the steering axis.

Spent a couple hours this morning rechecking everything and then did the only adjustment that made any sense-increased front caster. Maxed out the adjustments I built in and voila! Smiling now because I went the right way. Big improvement. Met a friend on my favorite road and he volunteered to ride along. Even better with a passenger. Then he drove and I rode, these things are fun! Now I need to modify the upper control arm to get additional caster and see if it gets even better. Good now but always looking for the best. Thanks. Bruce (can't seem to figure out how to put up pictures here, sorry)[/img]

Happy to hear increasing front caster worked for you. It seems that when you have wide low profile tires, you need more castor or trail than you would with narrow high profile tires. You might try running lower tire pressures, as this will allow the low profile radial tires to conform to the road surface. Also the lower pressure will allow the tires to heat to their proper operating temperatures and stick better to the road surface. 35 lbs is fine for a passenger car. I have a 185/55-15 front & rear and run 20 lbs front & 22lbs rear. The sidecar 185/55-14 and I run it at 18 lbs. Other members of this forum run anywhere from 15 lbs up to 24 lbs. The rallye racing sidecars running similar tires run with 14 lbs on all 3 tires. Try playing with the air pressure, you'll find what works best for you._________________Nostalgia' s nice but, nothing beats Performance.
Roger

Thanks, I will be seeking the best pressure but right now I'm making sure everything else is working right. Here in sunny Florida it's so hot we run more pressure to keep from destroying tires from overheating. Was around the tire business here for many years and know first hand heat destroys tires that are underinflated.

When I first got my rig the seller recommended 35 - 40 psi in all four tires. On grooved pavement it didn't feel like there was any connection between the wheels, like each one was trying to go a different direction. Lowering to 24 psi made a big difference.

Update after almost two weeks and three tanks of gas-Handling is very good now and also with a passenger. Increasing caster from +5deg to +8 1/2 deg is the only change I've made. Have carried 7 passengers including myself, 3F-4M and everyone has smiled. Thanks to those here who have offered assistance. Tire pressure remains as before and no complaints from passengers. It's not my intention to argue about tires and pressures, what works for you may not work for everyone as these rigs have their own traits. Happy motoring to all. Bruce.